The present invention relates to a removal and insertion of a container seal. Specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for extraction and insertion of a cork into a wine bottle in the presence of a non-oxidizing atmosphere.
It has long been a practice to age fine vintage bottled wines allowing them to mature in flavor and gain in value for a hundred years or more. Unfortunately, the corks used to seal the bottles containing the wine may have lifetimes no more than twenty to twenty-five years. After this twenty to twenty-five year period, the corks begin to decompose, permitting oxygen contained within the air to enter the bottle. The oxygen begins an irreversible oxidation of the wine which can make it virtually valueless.
To lengthen the life of a wine sealed in a bottle that may have a decomposing cork, conventional recorking steps replace an old cork. The conventional steps include cork extraction, wine sampling and cork insertion. The wine sampling tests for wine degradation occurring during previous storage. Conventional recorkers perform these steps in ambient conditions with the atmosphere intermixing with the wine. Thus, today's recorking techniques also expose the wine to the oxidizing effects of oxygen contained within the air. Cork extraction the conventional way expose the wine to oxidation.
Pouring the wine from the bottle into a decanter for sampling compounds the exposure of the wine during recorking. Topping the wine to compensate for losses sustained during storage, presents air to the wine once again. The process of topping the wine entrains the oxygen-laden air as it enters the wine bottle. The oxygen laden wine mixes with the bulk of the wine contained within the bottle, increasing the risk of future degradation of the wine.
Even though conventional methods pose risks, recorkers still use these steps because decomposition of the cork permits oxygen to enter and cause oxidation of the stored wine.
Certain prior art wine treatments have included a nitrogen type process which evacuates oxygen remaining in a recorked wine bottle in the space between the cork and the wine. This nitrogen process removes the hostile environment from the presence of the wine to reduce the chance of oxidation.
As a wine ages, it grows more valuable while becoming weaker. Recorking older wine is riskier because it is more valuable and the weakened wine becomes increasingly susceptible to the oxidizing effects of oxygen introduced during the recorking steps. When the oxygen entrained wine mixes with the bulk of the wine, oxygen remains intermixed in the wine, which the nitrogen process cannot remove. Storage of the wine with this intermixture of oxygen can cause its oxidation.